Reeves Changes The Energy

Jazz diva Dianne Reeves changes the energy in her own Vivid light show
By: Steve Moffatt

AMERICAN jazz diva Dianne Reeves reckons the energy needs to be changed in the world at the moment so for her one-off appearance for Vivid at Angel Place she told her audience to forget what’s happening outside ‘” ‘this is my living room’.

For 90 minutes she and her superb quartet took us through a masterclass in scat singing, majestic interpretations of standards and covers alike, interspersed with her own funny and perspicacious observations on life, music and her fellow musicians.

Take, for example, the time when as a talented schoolgirl she was invited to sing a couple of numbers at an Ella Fitzgerald gig and, having spent time up close observing the great singer putting her spin on early Beatles songs, Reeves literally slipped into the star’s shoes in her dressing room and wore them on stage.

TIGHT. Or her introduction to her song Nine in which she described the ages of woman from a nine-year-old upwards. ‘And then there are the 60s ‘” I turned 60 last year and I can tell you that that’s when you do what you want to do.’

The set was opened by her tight and brilliant band, led by veteran guitarist Romero Lubambo who switched throughout the night from Gibson electric to acoustic, giving the audience a dazzling display of jazz, latin and rock. Equally impressive was pianist Peter Martin while bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Terreon Gully laid down an irresistible groove.

But perhaps the highlights were Reeves’s incomparable free-ranging takes on Jerry Livingston’s Until The 12th of Never, a huge hit for Johnny Mathis, and the George and Ira Gershwin classics Love Is Here To Stay and The Man I Love, with Lubambo providing some eerie phased guitar sounding like a musical saw.